This invention relates to an improved alignment apparatus and method for aligning a ball with a target and a user with a ball.
The mystery surrounding the art and science of hitting a target with a thrown or propelled object has perplexed mankind since the Stone Age. Because of advances in technology and equipment, many of the excuses for not hitting a target have been removed from a layman's arsenal. Perhaps the greatest single obstacle yet to be overcome in this age-old quest for accuracy is the problem of alignment. The most advanced carbon graphic shaft and the most aerodynamically pure shape are of no avail if you are not properly aligned with the target.
Golf. A simple word that incorporates into it a vast array of historical, physical, and emotional highs and lows. In most sports, just hitting the ball solves most of the problems. In golf, however, hitting the ball is less than half of the problem. It still remains to have selected the correct club for the proper distance and ultimately to hit the desired target. Golf, then, requires the proper alignment of club, ball, target, and body, much more so than many other sports.
The problem of alignment in golf has been addressed probably since the first golfer took out a club and selected his target. Various "solutions" have been suggested. Some teach taking an additional club from the bag and laying it along the line of intended flight. This helps in the solution of the direction of the ball towards the target. Other problems still exist. Should the ball be placed forward or back in the stance? Should the feet be open or closed to the target? Other problems arise In particular, golf pros suggest that the club be taken away from the ball along a straight line directly away from the ball. Impossible to achieve while executing a correct golf swing, since the club must move behind the ball at some point, but at least the initial few inches, it is suggested, should be taken "straight back".
A drawback to the "solutions" offered by the prior art is that they may address one of the alignment problems, discussed above, but very rarely more than one, and none, as far as this inventor knows, address each of the problems with a single device. Thus, there is a need in the art for providing an alignment apparatus and method which simply and easily provides alignment guides for ball placement relative to body, to target direction, to take away alignment, and to foot placement. It, therefore, is an object of this invention to provide an alignment apparatus and method for simply and easily providing alignment guides for feet, target, ball, body, hands, etc.